Expanding Safer Space

Understanding Janelle Mona'e's "Cold War"

Definition of Cold War – The Cold War, is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The period is generally considered to span from the announcement of the Truman Doctrine on 12 March 1947 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991. 


The term cold war is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based on the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. (1. “Cold War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation)

 

Born in 1961, growing up the use of the term Cold War was common when describing the tenuous relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union. As the Wikipedia definition suggests, it was two superpowers who had come together for a common cause during WWII, following the temporary alliance they had an uneasy truce in which they both strove to be the dominant world force without actually having to go to war.


In reading the title of the article: Expansion of The Safer Space: Janelle Monae’s “Cold War”, I immediately thought of the cold war between the USA and Soviet Union / Russia. The article: Expansion of The Safer Space: ‘Cold War’ is a powerful piece, with my analysis I am going to reinforce my experience and belief that women, throughout history, have to fight harder and be better and if you’re a black woman and women of color you not only have to fight harder and be better, you have to be more intelligent, more resilient, be able to take a punch, get up and go at it again.


As a woman of color, having grown up in part in a predominantly low-income area, I am seeking to understand and share what women of color over the ages have had to do to simply be, to illuminate where some of the myths started and continue to be proliferated.


We will focus on the areas of politics for women of color in congress their challenges and the myth and reality of the Welfare Queen: Who started it and why and how it works against women of color. To include a musical piece from Elvis Presley, that will transition into the lyrics of Janelle Mona’s “Cold War.”


Music will include other examples of famous women of color musicians and wrap up with what we as women aspire to have RESPECT. I would like to include a piece on education and Sesame Street.


A woman that stands out for me in the current political arena is Stacy Abrams. Stacy Abrams, politician, lawyer, activist, and author, who in 2018 was the Democratic nominee for the Georgia gubernatorial election. She lost, which in part may have been due to voter suppression. Not one to give in to circumstances, she gets back up and becomes a voter rights activist whose efforts have seemingly boosted voter engagement in Georgia, bringing two democratic wins for Senate seats in Georgia. Today, September 25, 2022, she is running for Georgia State Governor, her message: “opportunity and success in Georgia shouldn’t be determined by your zip code, background, or access to power.” (2. Abrams, Stacy – Abrams for Governor 2022)

What I found interesting in my research of women of color in politics, the majority if not all of them happen to be Democrats.


For example:

U.S. Senate 1993 to present women of color total of 5 all with the Democratic party

  • Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL), a Black woman, was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1993-1999.
  • Mazie Hirono, an Asian Pacific Islander, was elected in 2012 and is currently serving.

 

Three women were elected in 2016;

  • Tammy Duckworth (D-IL, Asian Pacific Islander),
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV, Latina) and
  • Kamala Harris (D-CA, Black and South Asian)

 

US House of Representatives 83 women, of color:

  • Black – 21 (20D, 1R)
  • Asian 6 (5D, 1R)
  • Latina 7 (6D, 1R),
  • Middle Eastern/North African – 2 (2D),
  • Native American / Native Alaskan 1 (1D)

 

Vice President:

Kamala Harris (D-CA, Black and South Asian)       

(3. Eagleton Institute of Politics, 4. “Women of Color in Elective Office 2021.”)
 
 

What we want to remember is there are 50 seats in the senate and anywhere from 441 to 435 in the house of representatives. There are state seats, governorships, etc.,  To enter into a venue that is dominated by men, 62% white men, one would think running for a seat at the proverbial table; as a woman of color is daunting and yet, it’s just the beginning of the struggle.

 

Most, including men, entered public office as an advocate for something, whether it be for less or more government, safer schools, marginalized communities, healthcare, covered college, racial justice, and economic inequality. Yet for women of color, the same advocacy that helps them get elected also puts a target on their backs. Many of us, including myself, have openly celebrated a growing representation of women and people of color, and it’s that very group of representatives that continue to bear the brunt of harassment and threats at all levels of government. Remember when a white member of the Senate had the audacity to scream out “LIAR” when President Obama was speaking? The abuse is compounded for Black women, who experience both systemic racism and sexism and there is this sense that expected tolerance we would never expect from our male counterparts. (5. “Women of Color in Elective Office 2021.”) The cold war of politics for black women.

 

How the myths and propaganda continue to work against women of color. The Welfare Queen was/is a trope that started during the time of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. It was based on a true story of a woman of many identities. In the popular imagination, the stereotype of the “welfare queen” is thoroughly raced — she’s an indolent black woman, living off the largesse of taxpayers. The term is seen by many as a dog whistle, a way to play on racial anxieties without summoning them directly. (7. “PBS NewsHour.”, 8. Demby, Gene) In Reality: she was white woman, a white chameleon. A woman who could present herself as Latina, Asian, Black, Jewish, or white. The oddity of the woman, Linda Taylor labeled the welfare queen, had many more transgressions from kidnapping to possible murder, and police investigators didn’t go after Taylor on murder charges, because they were worried it would detract from an ongoing welfare fraud case. what stuck was a black woman, labeled ‘Welfare Queen’. Contrived misleading propaganda, why not go after a woman for murder when you could start a trope and mislead the public on welfare? And this is how lies become truths, for one woman’s misdeeds, many are labeled indolent, specifically women of color.

 

Interesting statistics: #28 43% of the people who receive welfare are white. (9. 25+ Vital US Welfare Statistics/ Urban Institute)

 

Contrary to what we have been led to believe, as you can see by the stats above, white people make up the biggest chunk of welfare recipients, with  24% of those who are on welfare being Hispanics, 23% are Black, while Asians and Native Americans account for 8% of all the recipients. (10. Straight Talk on Welfare Statistics )

In reality, sometimes we all need a helping hand, it’s the “cold war” of being poor and add the extra layer of being poor and black. We create a system that stigmatizes the poor, the person of color, and black women, we make it harder for the impoverished to attain a level of security, and we make education and training harder. Why? Why do we the public buy into the status quo, the lies the propaganda?

 

 

Let me share a personal example: I’ve come to realize that in many ways I was my own best champion and my own worst enemy. Growing up I was told I laughed too loud and too often, to be good, whatever that meant it wasn’t me, and good girls don’t do that. Laugh and dance and act silly, isn’t that what kids do? And yet, I was not supposed to do that or be that. I fought it, I was outspoken and rambunctious, much to my parent’s dismay. Looking back, I know after a while, the rules for good girls sunk into my subconscious at the same time in my subconscious, I rebelled. The success of the day was being a lawyer or a Doctor, teaching and dancing were not acceptable.

 

 

The social construct of that day was a woman wasn’t whole if she wasn’t with a man, good girls are quiet and dutiful. Success meant, becoming a doctor or a Lawyer. Men were the dominant, and women and POCs were thought of as 2nd class citizens. In many ways I bought into the belief of white being the better of all the races and accepted 2nd class citizenry; I accepted the status quo, all the while my soul was restless.

 

 

Rich and wealthy were ‘bad’, yet one must strive for success to have money. Though to want to be was frowned upon and it was better to be good and poor than want to be wealthy. Weird right? What I know is money may not make one happy and having it does often make life easier.

 

 

The prompt speaks to limitations or rather ‘out of reach. I’ve come to believe anything is possible, I’m back in school after a couple of three gap decades. I can let go of the status quo, I can be whoever and whatever I want. Who knows, I may never be a billionaire or I might and a millionaire, hey it’s just an extra zero, right? My inner cold war.

 

 

Is it easier to pretend our actions or lack of actions does nothing to create the very thing we fear most? When we treat people poorly at some point they will lash out, we know this, yet as a country, we still believe in the lies of yesteryear. As we go into the music that brought us here let’s end this section with a song, by a white man who understood the ways of the white and black world. A man who defied the white and black norms, whose music and actions crossed racial barriers, and through music brought us one step closer.

 

Elvis Presley – In The Ghetto (Music Video) (1969)

When I listen to this song, I initially thought of a black woman, an impoverished single black woman. Yet, nowhere in the song does he speak of the race or color of the woman, her child, or the young man growing up in the Ghetto. I ask myself why and it comes down to conditioning and what I was brought up to believe growing up.

 

Let’s bring that sentiment to music, from the past to the present; looking back into history and the evolution of music, we see the continual struggles that women of color speak through their music, Billy Holiday’s song: “Strange Fruit” a poem based on lynching, Roberta Flack’s:: Killing me Softly” a piece that speaks of love, loss, and hidden pain, to Aretha Franklin, theme: ‘RESPECT’ a demand for RESPECT and now to Janelle Mona’e’s music: “Cold War.”

 

What do Billy Holiday, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin mentioned songs have in common? They are speaking about their experience of the day. As is Janelle Mona’e with Cold War.

 

In the article, there is a comparison with the artist D’Angelo and an interesting parallel that shows up as a dichotomy. It’s interesting the way a man’s ‘similar performance’ is viewed differently than a woman, most especially a black man to a black woman.

 

From my experience of this article, Mona seems to seek balance, calm, and peace, and in comparison to D’Angelo, he appears more interested in getting a piece, a piece as in sex. It feels as if D’Angelo is viewing intimacy as a proverbial playground that has the listener leaning into a fleshy pornographic implication versus Mone’s use of her erotica as a battlefront to maintain self as she seeks her sensuality to be herself.

 

“Cold War” Speaks of racism, layered with the efforts of black women seeking to provide alternative worldviews, spanning the period between the end of WWII in 1945 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Mona’e wears primarily black and white clothes as a uniform for her support and stands for the working class. Thinking of the lyrics of – It’s a Cold War: it’s a cold war, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE FIGHTING FOR? The question, ‘Do You Know What You’re Fighting for, is a way to engage the audience with a thought-provoking question, “Do you know what you are fighting for? (11.

 

We, women of color,  are fighting to be more than a fleshy piece of someone’s playground; we are fighting for balance, calm, peace, and RESPECT.

 

 

How do we get respect for women of color? The best way is through education, with education we give all people a way to build confidence, critical thinking skills, literacy, numeracy, acceptance, inclusion, and socialization. In doing that we level the playing field of life. Did you know that as early as the 1970s it had been shown that children who regularly watched Sesame Street, were better prepared for kindergarten, showing evidence of the program’s educational value in the United States. Sesame Street, started out in the 1960s to reach the less privileged urban audiences, poor children of many were of color. What they found was a positive impact on all ethnic groups. Sesame Street has grown, is shared in 15 countries, and has a global reach of at least 156 million children from the ages of 0-7, promoting the very ideals that we need: literacy, numeracy, acceptance, inclusion, and socialization. We start with our children, we reinforce with our actions, and our willingness as adults to give, show and expect respect. We follow the Sesame Street model as our template.

 

 

Expansion of The Safer Space: Janelle Mona’e’s: Cold War, is a powerful article that speaks of the power of the struggle and the difference between the treatment of men and women and being black. The power of music and the message. The power of taking a hit, getting back up, and being on the stand.

 

References & Citations:

 

  1. “Cold War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Sept. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
  2. “Stacey Abrams for Governor.” Stacey Abrams for Governor, 1 Oct. 2022, https://staceyabrams.com/
  3. “History of Women of Color in U.S. Politics.” Center for American Women and Politics, https://cawp.rutgers.edu/history-women-color-us-politics.
  4. “Women of Color in Elective Office 2021.” Center for American Women and Politics, https://cawp.rutgers.edu/women-color-elective-office-2021
  5. Norwood, Candice, et al. “More Black Women Are Being Elected to Office. Few Feel Safe Once They Get There.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 17 June 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/more-black-women-are-being-elected-to-office-few-feel-safe-once-they-get-there
  6. Jenning, Linda Kramer, and Linda Kramer Jenning. “Women of Color Face Significant Barriers When Running for Office. but They’re Finding Support.” YES! Magazine, 10 Dec. 2019, https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2018/07/31/women-of-color-face-significant-barriers-when-running-for-office-but-theyre-finding-support
  7. “PBS NewsHour.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 1 June 2019, https://www.pbs.org/video/the-true-story-behind-the-welfare-queen-stereotype-1559408309/
  8. Demby, Gene. “The Truth behind the Lies of the Original ‘Welfare Queen’.” NPR, NPR, 20 Dec. 2013, https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the-truth-behind-the-lies-of-the-original-welfare-queen
  9. Fiume, Ofelia. “25+ Vital US Welfare Statistics to Know in 2022.” Review42, 5 Aug. 2022, https://review42.com/resources/welfare-statistics/
  10. “Straight Talk on Welfare Statistics (20+ Stats & Facts).” Fortunly, https://fortunly.com/statistics/welfare-statistics/#gref.
  11. Shana L. Redmond: This Safer Space: Janelle Mona ́e’s “Cold War” Journal of Popular Music Studies, Volume 23, Issue 4, Pages 393–411, C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc  – University of Southern California